Photos and Illustrations 2014

Riccardo Vecchio, "The Fugitive" (Detail)

The New Yorker is, of course, a great read. But it’s also an immense pleasure to look at. From 2014’s rich yield of New Yorker photos and illustrations, I’ve chosen twelve favorites:

1. David Black’s “Seu Jorge” (“Goings On About Town,” November 17, 2014)

2. Bendik Kaltenborn’s “The New Music Bake Sale” (“Goings On About Town,” March 17, 2014)

3. Pari Dukovic’s “Scarlett Johansson” (for Anthony Lane’s “Her Again,” March 24, 2014)

4. Michael Gillette’s “Jo Nesbø” (for Lee Siegel’s “Pure Evil,” May 12, 2014)

5. Grant Cornett’s “Jason Mleczko” (for Tad Friend’s “Thicker Than Water,” February 10, 2014)

6. Riccardo Vecchio’s “Elizabeth Harrower” (for James Wood’s “No Time For Lies,” October 20, 2014)

7. Ethan Levitas’s “Hospitality and Pannonia Quartet” (“Goings On About Town,” February 3, 2014)

8. Leo Espinosa’s “The Office Through the Ages” (for Jill Lepore’s “Away From My Desk,” May 12, 2014)

9. Dan Winters’s “Pardis Sabeti and Stephen Gire” (for Richard Preston’s “The Ebola Wars,” October 27, 2014)

10. Edwin Fotheringham’s “The Trip to Italy” (for David Denby’s “Lasting Impressions,” September 1, 2014)

11. Carolyn Drake’s “Anya Fernald” (for Dana Goodyear’s “Élite Meat,” November 3, 2014)

12. Conor Langton’s “Magic in the Moonlight” (for David Denby’s “Under the Spell,” July 28, 2014)

November 17, 2014 Issue

Paige Williams’s "Double Jeopardy," in this week’s issue, is impressive. I like its structure, the way its scope keeps expanding – from the facts of Shonelle Jackson’s case to Judge Gordon’s override of the jury’s sentence to the appalling frequency of override usage in Alabama to the constitutionality of override to the link between elected judges, judicial election-spending, and the use of judicial override. The piece climaxes with Judge Gordon, now retired, in his Montgomery office (“His tidy desk held a glass gavel”) talking about his decision to ignore the jury’s unanimous vote and sentence Jackson to death:

He went on, “People talk about being hard on crime. O.K.—are you willing to pay the price? Are you willing to construct the prisons? Staff the prisons? Budget for food and medical care? You can’t put everybody in the penitentiary. You just can’t.” He looked away, shook his head, and said, “Sometimes you just have to put ’em down.”

Sometimes you just have to put ’em down. Gordon talks as if he was dealing with dogs rather than human beings. He chose to put Jackson down even though (1) Jackson might not be the killer and (2) the jury unanimously recommended life. Well, here’s my verdict on the Alabama judicial system after reading Williams’s powerful piece: it’s rotten to the core.

Postscript: A special shout-out to David Black for his luminous, ravishing “Goings On About Town” photo of Seu Jorge.